On the plane so time to write an essay about the Standard format.
Contrary to what many people might believe, I actually don't think competitive Standard is limited to the top S and A tier decks. I haven't done a tier list in a very long time, but when I do I always list the decks that I feel give you the highest chance of victory, followed by other decks thst can also win.
That doesn't mean other decks cannot do well. Right now, with a bit of luck many decks can snag wins. Is this a good thing? This is debatable. From the perspective of diversity, sure. When you bring in other aspects such as how decks are played now (the jokes are all decks do pretty much the same thing; 1 drive/ 5000/multi attack) then there's a lot more to be discussed.
If all decks can win, then why do people need to spend money on expensive generics for top tier decks? It comes back to this variance. People want to maximise all they can to try and offset every bit of variance. You're investing money and time already preparing and travelling to an event, you want to make sure you are 100% ready and the only thing that can influence the result is your luck on the day.
Other factors influence this decision too. First is the event structure. Top cut Bo1 single elimination forces you to play a consistent deck. The last thing you want happen is playing 9 rounds in Swiss, then having to play 5 more games in top cut and losing in top 32, 16 or 8. Top cut should be double elimination or Bo3. This will allow slightly more leeway in deck choice. The ultra high roll decks will suffer because more games will be played, but it means more ability for skill expression.
The other thing we can change is prizing. Extending good prizing to more players will improve the tournament experience, and also allow more people to bring what they want. The key to good prizing is giving players something they want.
Going to One Piece nationals, I went x-3 and walked away with $420 worth of participation prizing. I was happy. Vanguard is never going to reach that level. But players can still be happy. Players won't be happy if they walk away with a foil draw trigger.
You have 2 ways to do prizing. One is via value, which is what big IP games can do. Vanguard will not be able to do this (yet). The second is giving what players want. This is what Vanguard can do. Imagine having a promo pack containing cards that players actually want. Alternate arts of cool cards that people want and play. Then add different tiers and levels of this prizing too, encouraging people to keep playing. Maybe even do best of prizing like Riftbound, except limit it to certain newer ride lines, themes or nations etc.
There's so many ways to be creative in this space to create better outcomes for all players. Give things that players want, and people will spend. Give things that players don't want, and they'll find there way somewhere else.
So basically speaking, yes Alphard can top regionals. However, there is no incentive to bring Alphard when you can bring another one.